October Update

Luka holding his icepack after arriving at the hospital

Accidents Happen

Parenting young ones is never dull, never boring and almost always keeps a good amount of surprises. During our Wednesday morning staff meeting last week, Renata’s cell phone rang and it was Luka’s elementary school. Typically when the school calls it’s not for a good reason. The teacher requested Renata come in to see Luka immediately. He had been in an accident with his friend Edoardo, both of which had been running in the backyard of the school during morning recreation break. Amidst the crowd neither of them saw the other coming and they collided headfirst.

Luka and Matea visiting Edoardo in hospital

When Renata arrived at the school it was not a comforting scene. There was an ambulance parked out front with the lights flashing. The doctors were attending to the children. Edoardo had a neck brace on and was being carried away on a stretcher. He was losing consciousness and was much more seriously injured than Luka, but it was recommended that both children be brought to the hospital. Luka was kept in for observation until late afternoon while his friend Edoardo needed a CAT scan. The results of which were serious enough to warrant reconstructive surgery on the orbital floor of his eye socket. When Luka’s forehead smashed the upper part of Edoardo’s cheekbone it caused a fracture into which one of the eye muscles fell and from which it could not free itself, rendering uncoordinated eye movements.

As I write this, Edoardo has been out of surgery for some hours and is doing fine. He does, however, have double vision in his eye. We pray that returns quickly to normal. Please join us in praying for little Edoardo, and that the Lord might use this for good in the life of his family and even the school. We can’t wait for him to come out of the hospital and return to school as the happy, playful 2^nd grader that he is.

RIP! My beloved MacBookPro.

Dead MBP

Just a couple of weeks ago my beloved MacBook Pro perished with the defective Nvidia chipset that had been installed in that particular model of early 2008. I was hoping to make it to the five-year mark (or more) before upgrading, but I only made roughly 4 ½ years. I guess that’s kind of old in computer years, eh? T'was a bit of an unexpected snag in our day to day ministry and life activity as missionaries, so I felt it was newsworthy. We're almost over that hump now and thankful to be so. 

Retreat

It's tradition to snap a pic on the last day before departing.

We held our 5^th annual retreat September 7-9 and had a pretty good turn out. As always, it was a wonderful time. Pastor Brian Cambra from Calvary Chapel Montebelluna spoke, teaching four sessions on the sufficiency of God for our lives. His wife Maria led us in worship and ran the children’s ministry. We could not have asked for better weather. The pictures we took seem like they are out of a travel magazine (friends on FaceBook can see them here CC Treviso Retreat 2012). The downtime in fellowship one with another was the icing on the cake. We were even able to swim in the lake it was so warm. Our prayer is that the fruit of the Word and work of the Spirit in us all will yield abundant, lasting results. 

Everyone is Significant

As you know, Nathan has been coming to church regularly for some months now and is blown away at how God speaks to him, week after week. Our Lord is indeed good and personally interested in our lives. Recently he brought his 13-year-old daughter, Isabel, for the first time. I was so encouraged to see her come back every week since then, sitting attentively in service. Yesterday Nathan shared that Isabel really enjoys coming and plans to continue. What a joy! Please pray that God would stir up or send over a youth leader with a heart and vision to shepherd these young people. This is one ministry area we really hope to see get established soon. Our youth are few in number but slowly multiplying and their needs are many. I firmly believe a strong youth ministry here would have a great impact in the city of Treviso.

The Lord has also brought a few other new families these days as well. Some of them are wounded sheep from abusive shepherds. We pray the Lord will heal these folks with the balsam of his grace. Pray these families settle into their new church home, experience God’s love in and among his people, and get radically blessed by Him to "Grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ" (2 Pet 3:18).

Bob and Lori Scata

Seasonal Change

Just as the landscape changes all around us with the shifting of the seasons, so it seems with all of life and ministry. As we welcome in new and friendly faces to the fellowship, we find ourselves also sending off our missionary co-laborers, Bob and Lori Scata. After four years of faithful service their time has come to an end and they must return to the states this coming January to begin the next chapter God has for their lives. They will be sorely missed but we’re thankful for the time we have had together and the fruit of their labors here will remain behind them. Please pray for their transition. Pray also for the church as our leadership adjusts itself to this change in our team.

Ministry Needs

I felt it would be good to include in this newsletter some of the basic ministry needs we currently have or expect to have in the very near future. Please pray for the following requests.

1. Worship/Sound
2. Youth ministry
3. Website and IT service
4. Sunday school teacher/Caregiver
5. Administration